Music Of The Punisher

To mix it up a little bit I'll be doing segments on the Punisher in other media. this week its music and my top 3 Punisher Songs.

Holy Wars...Punishment Due by MegaDeth

The Punisher inspired the second part of this classic metal song with lyrics

 "you killed my wife and my baby,
   with hopes to enslave me,
  First mistake last mistake"

You really cant get more Punisher if you tried, the way the guitars kick it is just fucking awesome and you can really start to head bang, for some reason Mustain stopped being a fan claiming he got too commercial, dunno what that's about maybe he got pissed off at Frank using energy weapons in the Spiderman cartoon. I'd also add Good Morning Black Friday as it definitely fits the comics due to it being about somebody starting of numb then going on a killing spree, sound familiar?

Warzone by Rob Zombie

This is on the sound track to the best full length Punisher movie so far Punisher Warzone.

"Yeah, I spot a crack nearer on a jigsaw face
Blood and knuckles roar on a muzzle flash
Another day in hell and she's the same
The skull will punish all that will survive"

It starts with great thumping drums that slowly builds into the classic Zombie guitar riffs. Zombie sounds like he actually gets the characters and the comic, which is a refreshing change because the movies have been complete shite (at least the makers of Warzone tried god bless em)
Its got it all jigsaw face, the skull,  you cant kill me, what more do you want that's going to scream its about the Punisher.


Dark In Here by Alien Ant Farm

I know your probably shocked I'm choosing something that isn't thrash metal but this song holds a special place in Punishers history being that's its at the end credits of the best super hero game ever (Yes the Punishers game was better fuck you Batman, Arkham Asylum was boring as shit)

 "Everything descends,
And my head is dark.
I will not depend,
On anything at all"

The song might be a bit weepy but for some reason after all that torture and killing its a welcome relief, I suppose the amusing credit sequence helped too but I the fact I couldn't stop myself humming it after I played it 6 years later means it leaves a lasting impact you rarely get from most credits.

So there you go, if you think I've left anything out or disagree please leave a comment.
 

kitchen Irish

Story by Garth Ennis art by Leandro Fernandez

 

 

*contains major spoilers and one instance of racist language 

Back by popular demand, I say popular demand I have 2 people hungry for these reviews but at least it makes me feel wanted. On with the review.

A bomb goes off across the road in a bar that Frank happens to be relaxing in, miraculously he survives thanks to being cocooned the other body parts of the bomb blast victims, but the aftermath sets him off to find the people that did it. As luck would have it Yorkie (making a successful transaction from the mainstream marvel universe) contacts Frank to tells him it’s the work of Finn Cooley and his nephew Peter Cooley members of the IRA, it’s not all business however and Yorkie brings along Andy Lorimer the son of one of Peters victims as a favour to his dead friend.

They easily find Cooley who is being toasted at a local bar for being a 'hero' and Cooley thinks nothing of sacrificing his dear nephew so he can make a clean getaway from Castle who nails the little prick with a bullet in each of his legs, of course the kids a pussy who spills the beans the second he thinks he might suffer pain. He tells the story of Nesbitt the godfather figure of the Irish mob who leaves in his dying breath leaves 10 million to his adopted children Tommy Tonner who leads the westies, Eamon and Polly the river rats, Maginty the mad dreadlocked bastard and Cooley, they each get a part of a code that completed will grant them access to the will but they figure if they can kill each other they will get the full 10 million  so Frank and Yorkie sets it up so they’re all in one place and lets starts killing, they all manage to get away and the sudden euphoria of them escaping a war zone in New York makes them all sentimental towards each other and they all agree they were better of just splitting the money, unfortunately for them Nesbitt was a bastard and....well I won’t spoil the ending for you.



This book is a strange one as it feels more like a sequel to business as usual than any book in the MAX series, there’s nothing that connects it to the final book unlike the others in this series that have recurring elements and characters besides Yorkie, because of this it feels like the odd one out but that in no way takes away from the great story telling.There’s so many characters and they all have a great story, it’s amazing Ennis actually managed to squeeze them all and develope them the way he has. The only real problem with this is that castle almost feels like a bit player in how own story there’s a definite shift from being purely about castle story to trying to tell the back story of every character.

Because of the way it’s drawn the whole thing plays out in slow motion and the aftermath is just horrific,in the opening pages there’s a waitress whose last dying moments involves having no arms from the elbow down and gagging on a mouthful of broken glass and its a great contast for the next part where Frank has to restart a bomb victims heart by placing his hand through the guys open rib cage and manually massaging his heart to keep him alive, for whatever reason it’s important to Frank that this guy does not die, maybe he sees himself in this guy but it’s one of the few acts of kindness that the you ever see him perform, so it’s a major thing when you do see it.

 

why so fucking serouse ye cunts

The art in this book is brilliantly realized as always, specifically the design of Finn Cooley’s face who has no skin on it due to a failed bomb attack on a British target, its visceral and every time you see him you feel repulsed on some level, there’s a definite feeling that it’s a physical representation of all the evil this man is seeping out, it’s ironic because he just comes across as a pissed off thug and its probably the most normal of all the villains in the max series. It doesn’t stop him from having the best scenes in the book, like when he escapes the punisher and tells his friend he is tired of being a slave to the system he's spent so long following, he ends up shouting "I WILL BE NO ONES NIGGER" it’s then revealed he's in a  bar full of African Americans. It's in no way ment as racist but it’s a classic gag at the end of a very realistic conversation you can imagine these guys having. and the scene where castle rips off his face with his in a desperation move of survival is fucking hideous.

Another stand out arc is the scenes with Napper and Maginty. You have the old order being pushed back into work because if he doesn’t do as he's told his grand child will die. Napper used to make people disappear for the westies and is a bit of a legend Maginty uses him to hack up tonner as a message to the rest, because Maginty is a sick fuck he forces the Napper’s grand kid to watch him work. You can’t help but feel for Napper, here’s a guy who actually managed to make something for himself and move on with his life when he gets dragged back into it he is in hell and you can see it in every panel, he hates what he did and the last thing he ever wanted is to be reminded of it, you are cheering for him when he snaps, Maginty is just an evil fuck using the old excuse he had to be that way because of his upbringing and the brutal racism he received in Ireland, but there’s no charisma to this guy either he's just nasty for the sake of it ironically he is probably most like Nesbitt out of all the characters because of how much of a bastard he is.

 

The only interesting thing about the river rats is there may or may not be an incest angle i.e. over protective brother but they hold no real interest and Tonner is just cannon fodder for Maginty.

 I said no trainers

 

 

Ennis has done alot on the subject of the IRA and this is another story of the futility of their existence, he has done other stories such as The Magnificent Kev trilogy and Downtown where the Punisher ends up in Belfast, but this one is noticeable in the way the even the member of the IRA are tired of it and are reduced to just being in it for the money but at the same time know no other way of living, perhaps that makes them victims of their own stupidity. Yorkies conversation with Peter about how his cause is nothing but a selfish act and he is only causing suffereing to his country when all they want to do is get on with their lives is thought provoking. Its a great book end to these stories that are still having a very real impact on people living there today.

All in all Kitchen Irish delivers in every thing it sets out to do, so go on pick up a copy its a good craic.

 

In The Beginning

                                                   Story by Garth Ennis Art by Lewis Larosa and Tom Palmer


*contains major spoiler*

Since this series will be done chronologically the next in the series is In The Beginning, by far the best introduction book to any character you will ever read. From the very outset this book is gold, the use of the dark colours gels perfectly with Ennis’s even darker humour, the Punisher narrating to the reader his origin and intentions, in this case he decides to turn up at 100 year old mafia bosses birthday with an M60 and lay waste to the birthday guest who happen to be most of what’s left of the mafia in America. Unbeknownst to him he's being watched by the CIA who plans on using him as a weapon led by Frank’s old ally from the 90's comic Microchip. the mafia aren’t too happy that most of their people have been axed so they send their own team after him lead by Nicky Cavella (a major character in a future book) so frank turns up at the funeral of the people he's killed at the birthday party to finish the mafia off allowing microchip to follow him back to his hideout with his CIA team, including Kathryn O'Brien who is so screwed up she wants nothing more from poor frank than to tie him to a bed and kill him with sex.

 While microchip has Frank he tries to convince him that he should join. Of coarse Cavella finds out where the CIA are holding frank by cutting the balls off of one of the CIA agents and the two teams kill each other letting frank escape with microchip and killing one of Cavella’s men Pittsy in one of the most brutal ways you will ever seen in any comic (at least for most comics)

                                                                

Its one of those heart in mouth moments

 

 

 

My main reason for enjoying this book is when you strip away the gore and strong language, it fits in perfectly with the mainstream Punisher books from the marvel universe. I understand at that time there hadn’t been a punisher book for a while and if you didn’t realise what you were reading you would have pissed yourself at the contents.

Half the panels in this book contain shots of people with their brains hanging out and smiling, like they haven’t even realised they've died all the while you have their friends surrounding them watching it, contorted in fear and shock at what they’re watching realising that they’re probably next, it makes you wonder what it must be like to try and force yourself to fight against an enemy you know will kill you, it’s only yourself preservation that tells you to carry on and shoot back, you never think of this when you play a first person shooter or watch an action movie they are just faceless targets that deserve to die with no second thoughts. And this is just in the first few pages.
    
Another notable scene is the conversation between Microchip and Castle. Its set in a darkened room giving a claustrophobic intense feel to it, every single panel a close up of each characters face, I would say it’s a battle of wits but from the start Castle is a man of stone unwilling to move in his conviction of his mission giving no quarter to Microchip. The pinnacle of this scene is Frank telling micro the story of a neighbour who came to visit frank after he lost his wife and kids to give his condolences in the process revealing he left his own wife and family for another woman causing Frank to almost beat the man to death saying he deserved to be punished. This moment more than probably anything else is where the Punisher is born you can see him snapping and whatever’s left of his humanity goes from colour to black and white. It would have been a very delicate time for him when he would have still been trying to figure out what your going to do next, like most people that have ever lost someone and to see someone throw all that away. The blinding fury that would over take you would come out of your system eventually, in the Punisher's case he uses this as the beginning of his philosophy.

                                                                        

                                                      Punishment Due



I have to end this on the Pittsy as he's well fucking nuts to put it politely. Inspired by Joe Pesci and Paulie from the sopranos he's one of those characters who lights up the book every time you see him because he's doing something brutally insane, be it trying to smash a pool cue over a woman’s head who accidentally pokes him with her cue or cutting the balls off of one of his victims in fact in his first scene he actually says fuck ten times in one page in a great scene when he's ordering seafood. The fight scene between him and castle is more like a horror movie than any fight actually set in reality, no matter how many times frank puts him down he gets right back up and goes at him like a pit-bull from hell.

All in all a great book that delivers on every level as a comic book fan and a punisher fan and if you don’t like it, in the words of Pittsy "You, shut the fuck up"